burst

B1 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /bɝst/ UK /bɜːst/ See IPA manual

Freq #4311

Meanings

1

verb
To break open suddenly because of pressure from inside.

The balloon burst with a loud bang.
2

verb
To move or appear somewhere suddenly and with force.

She burst into the room without knocking.
3

noun
A sudden short period of activity, sound, or feeling.

There was a burst of applause when she finished singing.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Multiword verbs with burst

burst into Prepositional verb B1

to appear suddenly and forcefully in a place or state

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to break open suddenly... break opensplit

3 noun · a sudden short period of... outburst

Word family

Forms brustsburstingbursts

Derived forms aburstafterburstair-burstairburstbank-burstingbudburstburstabilityburstablebursterburstletburstwiseburstwort

Related forms bostbust

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

burst into
to appear suddenly and forcefully in a place or state

Verb + preposition/particle

Proverbs (1)

See all

Gifts break rocks
Matching variant: Gifts burst rocks

Etymology

From Middle English bresten, bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-West Germanic *brestan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰres- (“to burst, break, crack, split, separate”), enlargement of *bʰreHi- (“to snip, split”). See also West Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Danish briste, Swedish brista; also Irish bris (“to break”)). More at brine. Also cognate to debris.

bresten Middle English berstan Old English *brestan Proto-West Germanic *brestaną Proto-Germanic *bʰres- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# burst

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** verb, noun
**IPA (US):** /bɝst/
**IPA (UK):** /bɜːst/
**Frequency rank:** 4311

## Meanings
1. To break open suddenly because of pressure from inside.
2. To move or appear somewhere suddenly and with force.
3. A sudden short period of activity, sound, or feeling.

## Examples
- The balloon burst with a loud bang.
- She burst into the room without knocking.
- There was a burst of applause when she finished singing.

## Derived Forms
- aburst
- afterburst
- air-burst
- airburst
- bank-bursting
- budburst
- burstability
- burstable
- burster
- burstlet
- burstwise
- burstwort

## Related Forms
- bost
- bust

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bresten
- Root: berstan
- Root: *brestan
- Root: *brestaną
- Root: *bʰres-

## Etymology
From Middle English bresten, bersten, from Old English berstan, from Proto-West Germanic *brestan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰres- (“to burst, break, crack, split, separate”), enlargement of *bʰreHi- (“to snip, split”). See also West Frisian boarste, Dutch barsten, Danish briste, Swedish brista; also Irish bris (“to break”)). More at brine. Also cognate to debris.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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